Here’s some humour to start the day off for you.
I couldn’t resist… I certainly have been in this situation before. Have you?
I dedicate this to Anthony Stewart at Red Brick Music.
Peace,
Corey 
A Studio Engineers Nightmare
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Tag Archives: musician
The Official Rules For Dating A Musician
Love this… What rule do you relate to the most?
Peace,
Corey
My Trip Down (Data) Memory Lane
Recently I’ve been clearing out all of my external hard-drives and sorting out my audio and visual archives and I’ve been having a really wonderful time doing it.
For me, there’s nothing like a trip down memory lane from time to time (in other words, a good bloody spring cleaning) to show me some perspective to my life.
It’s been very enlightening experience.
From this nostalgia trip I’ve learnt a few things about myself.
First of all, I’ve amassed quite a collection of photos and recorded music, more than what I first thought. The amount of rediscovering I was doing was awesome.
This rediscovery has also proven to me that I have come a long way in my music in a relatively short space of time, something to which I’m quite proud of.
I have also realised that the path I have chosen to take, that of being an independent songwriter/musician/blogger is the right one for me.
In fact, I’ve been enjoying the journey so much I’ve decided to create an archives section on this website where I can put up all of my past for all to see and hear.
Hopefully it will give you all a better understanding of who I am, where I’ve come from and where I’m going.
I hope to be putting up the first of my archival material in the next few days so watch this space. It wont necessarily be in chronological order, just in the order of rediscovery.
I’ve been looking forward to sharing this with you all.
This is going to be fun…
Peace,
Corey
Getting Ready For FAWM 2012
“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” — Jack London
Man, we’re at the end of January already… Where did it go?
I don’t know where it went but I do know that the beginning of February is also the beginning of FAWM which stands for February Album Writing Month.
I’ll cleaning up my creative space, contacting all of my collaborators and sharpening my pencil for this one.
I know I’ve mentioned FAWM (and my lack of success in it) before in the past but for those of you that don’t know FAWM is a songwriting event that challenges the participant to write 14 songs in the 28 days of February.
However, seeing that 2012 is a leap year the challenge is now to write 14.5 songs in 29 days. The other 0.5 being an extra collaboration with someone new.
Here is some more information about FAWM taken from www.fawm.org
“The FAWM challenge is simple: 14½ songs in 29 days. Why?
If it is inspiration you are after, then FAWM is your club. Each February, this website forges a collaborative community of thousands of musicians worldwide, from all walks and skill levels.
We take on the challenge of writing an album’s worth of new music in the shortest month of the year.”
Interested? Then go to www.fawm.org and join up, immerse yourself into the community and enjoy the ride.
I know I will.
Peace,
Corey
CS Gigs: W/E Sunday February 5th, 2012
Here are the gigs that I’m doing for the week ending Sunday February 5th, 2012.
Make sure you mark these gigs in your diary in BOLD RED PEN.
Wed 01 – Open Mic @ The Dan (8pm – 12am)
Thu 02 – Open Mic @ The Brunswick (8pm – 11pm)
Fri 03 – Daniel O’Connell Hotel (9pm – 12am)
Sun 05 – FIGJAM @ Mick O’Sheas (2pm – 6pm)
For more information please go to my gigs page.
Hope to see you there,
Corey
A Proposed New Format For My Cover Gigs
For a while now I’ve been looking for ways in which I can do something a little different with my cover gigs.
The reason why I want to do this is so I can stand out from the crowd a bit more while at the same time, I’m keeping things fresh for myself and hopefully I create a point of difference between me and all of the other cover musicians out there.
With that in mind I’m going to trial a different approach to my performances.
In the past, what I’ve done is created a setlist of the songs to play before the gig and then deliver a show from that setlist. What I’m wanting to do for this year is develop a comprehensive list of songs that I can play and then allow the audience to request what they want to hear.
It’s “Corey Stewart/FIGJAM By Request” a concept that has been bouncing around in my mind for at least a couple of years now.
I’ve seen this done a few times by other musicians and I thought that it was a fantastic idea. I know a lot of songs and I’m learning more all of the time, I might as well put them all to good use.
The beauty about letting the audience pick the songs I play is that it takes the pressure off of me totally because it becomes the audiences job to program the nights entertainment. I then become an interactive human jukebox and it allows me to get on what I do best.
Which is playing the songs and entertaining the crowd.
Another idea that I want to develop in 2012 is “FIGJAM Live Karaoke.”
Instead of people singing to backing tracks they have the opportunity to sing with a live band which will make the overall singing experience for the punter closer to a real band rather than singing with the radio.
How cool would that be? Let me know what you think.
Both concepts are still in its very early stages of development but as soon as I’m closer to launching them, I’ll let you all know so you can all be part of the interactivity.
Onward and upward…
Peace,
Corey
Today I Reaffirm My Musical Goals
Now that I’m fully back in the land of the living and feeling much better than I have in a long time, I thought that today would be a good day to reaffirm my musical goals.
And it’s this…
“To sustain a career as a full time songwriter/musician/blogger using the internet as my primary tool of promotion, networking and marketing.”
This doesn’t mean that the more traditional face to face stuff does not get neglected by the way. I actually love the cut and thrust of getting out there and networking, securing my own gigs and using the power of word of mouth advertising to create a community around me, my music and other projects that I’m involved in (such as the Open Mic Network).
Now, how am I going to achieve this? Well, I’ll do it by:
Simplifying my life I know I’ve written about this before on my blog but I do have the tendency to over-complicate and over-think aspects of my life and work which paralyses me through having too much choice.
I’ve started on the road to simplicity by finally deciding that this site is the main focus for all of my musical endeavours. In light of this I’ve just recently deleted my Orangutang Music website and redirected the URL to this site. My other blogs Songwriting Zen and Corey Stewart Songwriting Tips will follow the same fate once I export all of the valuable content elsewhere.
I will be having a closer look at ways in which I can streamline my online presence in the near future and it’s my intention to blog about it.
Focusing on my activity As well as over-complicating and over-thinking aspects of my life I also fall into the habit of doing far too many things at once under the guise of needing to “diversify my income.” The old jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none thing gets really boring after a while when you realise that you don’t get anything achieved by adopting this business model.
I know I can do a lot of things but I need to be mindful of what I’m really doing every time I decide to take on another job here, another role there.
Which leads on nicely to the last point…
Internalising my efforts I admit it, I’m a people pleaser. In the past I’ve done anything for anyone because I wanted to be seen as the “nice guy” in any situation and would do whatever I could to protect that stance, even at the cost to myself.
Well, there will be no more of that. Helping others is fine as long as it doesn’t get in the way of my own stuff.
I mean for starters I am my own web development, online marketing and music business consulting client and will work with myself as such. I’ll take on my own advice and will walk the walk that results from talking the talk (and some of you out there know how much I love to talk about the music business).
If I have time spare to work with anyone else in the same capacity I’ll do so and I’m always open to those opportunities but, at the same time, if I don’t, I won’t, simple as that.
I hope you’ll understand that if you’re the one doing the asking.
My live shows (mainly my covers gigs) and the Open Mic Network sustain me financially and give me the freedom to work on my other stuff during the day and that includes working on my health as well.
It’s my hope that I can achieve some sort of balance in my life so I can be the best person I can be for myself and for everyone else around me.
I’ve had my break and now it’s time for me to get back into it but this time I’ll be working smarter, not necessarily harder.
Peace,
Corey
Related articles
- So You Want My Job: Songwriter (artofmanliness.com)
- Creating a Life on Purpose (psychologytoday.com)
- How Old Is Too Old??? Upcoming Artists Want To Know!!! (current.com)
Help! I’m Paralysed By Too Much Choice?
- Image by Kev Gilmour via Flickr
This post is about the hazards I’m encountering in trying to build a co-ordinated social networking presence after years of adopting the ‘shotgun’ approach to my online marketing (you know, throw it all up against a wall and see what sticks).
One of the really big jobs (as an online focussed musician) I have ahead of me at the moment is to try and co-ordinate a focussed and strategic web presence for me and my music. In theory this would be done through my website, blog, social media and (very soon) video.
For me to do this properly I need to first of all ascertain how much of me is on the net in the first place.
What I’m finding out is that there’s bits of me all over the place but none of it working in an efficient, streamlined and coherent manner. Therein lies the challenge for me as on online musician/marketer, corralling all of my online bits into a solid web presence.
At the moment I have a bit of a problem and the more I look into this, the more it looks like that finding a solution to this problem is like unscrambling an egg, and we all know how hard that can be.
At this very moment I don’t know where to start, I have so many choices in front of me that I get paralysed by them. It’s happened in the past, give me too many choices and I won’t choose anything.
I know that in a situation like this you need to start at the beginning however, when you don’t know where a clear beginning is… Anyway, I’m thinking the short answer to all of this is to “just start somewhere” and work my way in whatever direction it takes me. I just need to trust that by starting somewhere I’ll see the forest for the trees.
My starting point will be FaceBook!
I’ll blog my progress but it does comfort me to know that if I do stray off target I have you to guide me back.
Peace,
Corey
Open Mics Are Good For You
One of the projects that I’m involved with is running an Open Mic every Wednesday night at the Daniel O’Connell Hotel called the Open Mic @ The Dan. This has been running for almost 4 years now and has a very solid following and is known around Adelaide as one of the best run and best sounding Open Mics around. This is something that I’m very proud of.
I’m also putting together an Open Mic Network in which all Open Mics can cross promote their events to a developing Open Mic community. I’m doing this because It’s my belief that grass roots initiatives such as Open Mics are essential in a vibrant music industry. I wish they were around when I first started my musical journey.
The benefits of an Open Mic are:
For everyone:
1. Open Mics are a great networking opportunity for songwriters, performers and musicians of all experiences and skill levels. Everyone gets together in one place with music as a common bond and allows magic to happen
2. It’s a great night out in a relaxed, performer-friendly environment listening to music performed by anyone and everyone. A mixed bag of good and improving performances. You can feel comfort zones being shattered.
For songwriters:
3. You can road-test new material as it is being written (even works in progress if you are daring) and get great feedback from your peers.
4. As other singer/songwriters are present you can easily find a songwriting partner.
For performers:
5. It is an opportunity to perform in front of an attentive, respectful crowd in which you can promote other shows, get names on a mailing list and sell product. If you have a band that you are starting and you want to get the vibe happening before your first gig, Open Mics are perfect for this.
6. If you are looking for other band members networking at an open mic should be one of the thing on your to do list.
7. Most open mic venues have music on other nights so consider your performance as an audition for a gig on another night.
For more information on the Open Mic @ The Dan and the Open Mic Network go to my projects page or to www.openmicaustralia.com
Peace,
Corey
CD Project Update #1 – The Beginning
I went into the studio last Saturday with drummer Tim Irrgang to start laying down bed tracks for the CD and I’m glad to say that we’re halfway through the preliminary list of 18 songs earmarked for recording.
Tim and I go back a few years and I’ve had the pleasure of playing shows or working in the studio with him as either a bassist or vocalist/guitarist but I’m still constantly amazed at how much of a master player Tim is. His attention to detail is astounding and his dedication to the project is second to none.
It’s very safe to say that I love his work.
Tim setting up his kit
All miked up and ready to go
Recording everything separately has been a very new and interesting experience for me as most of my musical experience has been in the live scene. even when I was in the studio doing demos they would mostly be recorded live with the band. At times the recording process felt a little disjointed but I also know it’s early days and besides, I trust everyone who’s working on this with me so what have I to worry about?
Gotta keep ‘em separated (the tracks that is)
Just to give you all a background on what has happened so far…
Over the last four weeks I recorded 25 songs on acoustic guitar with vocals to a click which I then whittled down to preliminary list of 18 songs. These songs are to be used initially to guide Tim and myself on drums and bass so we can lay down the rhythm foundations for all 18 songs in readiness for acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keys and vocals to be overdubbed later.
The list of 18 will then be culled to a final list of 12-15 songs
Recording the guide tracks to a click was fascinating as I thought I kept pretty good time but as time goes on you soon find out that click-tracks don’t lie. Anyway, with that said, both Tim and I got through 9 of the 18 songs. The rest will be completed in the next couple of weeks.
A big thanks once again to Anthony Stewart for his infinite patience and his great coffee.
The engine room
Anthony hard at work
Watch this space, I’ll keep you updated as more news comes to hand.
Peace,
Corey